Vantaggi
When I started at the AACR I really wanted to like the place, as the organization has a great mission and is located in a really cool spot in Center City Philadelphia. Unfortunately, because of the psychotic upper management and the overall toxic culture of the place, it was not a positive experience.
Svantaggi
Basically everybody I knew while I was there was trying to get out and was looking for another job. The main reason for this very bad culture is the CEO who has been there for over 50 years and runs the place like a gulag. The culture of the place is rotten to the core, and is really not about trying the fulfill the mission of curing cancer, but rather it's all about trying to make the neurotic CEO happy. If you make any little mistake, she will find out and there will be hell to pay. She is the ultimate micromanager and is a narcissistic vindictive person. I was pretty low on the totem pole and had few interactions with her, thank god, but her insane policies and rules were felt by all. Everyone is scared of her, and your managers will not protect you, as they are also trying to save their own butts. It's an extremely top down organization and you will not be allowed any independence whatsoever, and god forbid you try to take initiative and make a decision. You will be crushed. The CEO controls everything, including the promotions and raises of ALL the employee (yes, you read this right. She doesn't even let her managers make these decisions about their own employees). The performance evaluations and accompanying promotions or raises (if they are approved) are chronically late because the CEO simply doesn't care about the employees. The employee review process which was supposed to be done by January never took place before June or July (or later). Everybody had to wait for the little bit of money they were due, while she makes an extravagant salary. The management does not care about the well being or happiness of the employees and sees all of us as easily replaceable. That explains the poor morale and huge turnover. If you are unlucky enough to get an interview, ask HR about the reasons for the outrageous turnover. Also, during the interview, have fun taking the ridiculous grammar/typo tests, as well as a detailed personality test (all mandated by the CEO, of course).